Short-term Budget, Economic Recovery Plan

Biti, appointed to the finance portfolio under a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is expected to use the budget statement and economic plan to introduce new measures to placate Western powers that have demanded a credible recovery programme before they can support Zimbabwe's new unity government.
We are going to give a short-term budget presentation tomorrow (Wednesday), Biti told ZimOnline, declining to divulge the details of both the budget statement and economic recovery programme.
The short-term economic recovery is going to be launched on Thursday, but I cannot pre-empty its contents right now, said Biti, who is also secretary general of Tsvangirai's MDC party.
Once a model African economy Zimbabwe is suffering a severe economic and humanitarian crisis marked by the world's highest inflation of more than 200 million percent, acute shortages of food and basic commodities, amid a cholera epidemic that has infected more than 90 000 people and killed more than 4 000 others.
Analysts say the power-sharing government's ability to restore Zimbabwe to its former status hinges on whether it is able to mobilise financial support from Western countries that – with the exception of Australia which last week announced a US$10 million aid package for Harare – have remained reluctant to provide support.
In addition to demanding a credible economic recovery plan, Western countries have demanded evidence to show that Mugabe is committed to genuinely sharing power with Tsvangirai, uphold democracy and to implement constitutional reforms leading to new free and fair elections.
The United States and the European Union, the two biggest providers of humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, have also maintained targeted visa and financial sanctions against Mugabe and top officials of his ZANU PF party.
Sources said Biti would in his economic recovery programme, to be known as the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme: Setting Zimbabwe Moving Again, attempt to address some of the key objectives set out in the power-sharing agreement signed by Zimbabwe's political parties last year.
Biti would also attempt to address the issue of sanctions, a subject that has continued to cause rancour within the government with Mugabe and his ZANU PF lieutenants insisting that the MDC was not doing enough to persuade its Western allies to lift sanctions.
The economic plan that puts the cost of Zimbabwe's recovery at US$5.2 billion, according to sources, has been already been given to the South African Development Community (SADC) and the African Development Bank.
The SADC brokered Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal and is at the forefront of efforts to try to convince the international community to support the new unity government in Harare.
The regional body has said it is planning to call an extraordinary summit to appeal to the international community to provide US$2 billion needed to kick-start Zimbabwe's economy and restore basic services such as health and education.
Biti's economic recovery document will add onto an ever-growing heap of economic blueprints crafted by Zimbabwe since independence with the unfulfilled objective to lift the country's economy.
Among them was the Transitional National Development Plan (1986-90) whose main objective was to increase social sector development, implement land reform, expand rural infrastructure and redress social and economic inequality.
It was dumped in favour of the Bretton Woods inspired Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) (1991-1996) which among other things undertook to reform public enterprises and the civil service.
ESAP was succeeded by the Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation (ZIMPREST), touted as a homegrown programme.
The ZIMPREST could not live to celebrate its fourth anniversary as it was dumped for another programme: the Millennium Economic Recovery Programme (MERP) launched in August 2001.
The MERP was touted as a short-term economic programme to restore economic vibrancy and address the underlying macroeconomic fundamentals. But it was rendered ineffective, largely due to the withdrawal of international donor support in February 2003.
Then the National Economic Development Programme (NEDPP) was crafted in 2007 to breathe life into the economy. But before NEDPP could be implemented, government came up with yet another programme, the Zimbabwe Economic Development Strategy that was billed to run from 2009 to 2013. – ZimOnline